Mars Curiosity Rover

Lincoln on Mars

This image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the first sample of powdered rock extracted by the rover's drill. The scoop in this image is 1.8 inches across. It is the first time rock has been drilled by a space probe on another world.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Lincoln on Mars

This image from NASA's Curiosity rover shows the first sample of powdered rock extracted by the rover's drill. The scoop in this image is 1.8 inches across. It is the first time rock has been drilled by a space probe on another world.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The Mars Curiosity Rover Carried A 1909 Penny Into Space

The Curiosity rover carries a small patch that can be used to recalibrate its cameras. Included: a 1909 penny with a profile of Abraham Lincoln on it.

NASA/JPL/MSSS/Twitter

Mars Rover Takes Self-Portrait

No, that's not a flower in the Martian soil, but scientists looking at images from the Mars Curiosity rover say they don't know what it is. The picture has gone viral since NASA posted it. Curiosity has found fresh proof that water once flowed on Mars.

NASA/JPL

Shiny Object Found on Mars

The Mars Curiosity rover used a camera on its robot arm to shoot a portrait of itself. This picture is actually made from 55 smaller images, stitched together by computer.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Shiny Object Found on Mars

NASA's Mars Curiosity lifts a scoop full of sand and dust. In the foreground, near the bottom of the image, a small, shiny object is visible on the ground. NASA said it was not sure whether the object was of Martian origin, or just part of the rover.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Mars Rover Takes Self Portrait

This image provided by NASA shows shows a Martian rock outcrop near the landing site of the rover Curiosity thought to be the site of an ancient streambed. Curiosity landed in a crater near Mars' equator on Aug. 5, 2012, on a two-year mission to study whether the environment could have been favorable for microbial life.

NASA/AP

Mars Rover Takes Self Portrait

This image provided by NASA shows shows a Martian rock outcrop near the landing site of the rover. Evidence indicates that this may be the site of an ancient streambed.

NASA/AP

Mars Rover Makes Tracks

The Curiosity rover sent back images of its left wheels, using a camera mounted on its robotic arm, Sept. 9, 2012. This picture, combined from two images, was shot as the rover began the second month of its planned two-year exploration of the Martian surface.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Mars Rover's New Color Pics

The Mars rover Curiosity was visible from Martian orbit, leaving tire tracks behind it in the red dust. This image was taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, about 170 miles overhead.

NASA

Mars Rover's New Color Pics

Curiosity took a picture of its own robot arm, which it will use to test Martian soil for signs there could have been microbial life on Mars.

NASA

Mars Rover Takes First Drive

A chapter of the layered geological history of Mars is laid bare in this color image from NASA's Curiosity rover showing the base of Mount Sharp, the rover's major destination.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/AP Photo

Mars Rover Takes First Drive

Curiosity used its mast camera, or MastCam, to examine the geology of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside Gale Crater, where the rover landed.

AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Mars Rover Takes First Drive

Here is a similar view in different wavelengths of light. While the dust on Mars is a familiar rusty red color, the rocks beneath are gray, many of them similar to basalt on Earth.

AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Mars Rover Starts to Move

Curiosity took its first test drive after landing on Aug. 22, 2012, and sent this image looking back at its own tread marks. The drive came on the day the late science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury ("The Martian Chronicles") would have turned 92, and in his honor, Curiosity's landing site was renamed Bradbury Landing.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars Rover Sends Color Panorama

The Mars Curiosity Rover was visible to another NASA spacecraft, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, looking down from above. The blue smudge around the rover, in false color, shows where Curiosity's landing rockets blew away the reddish Martian dust on the surface.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Mars Rover's Self-Portrait

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity sent its first color panorama of the pebble-strewn plain where it landed. In the distance is the rim of Gale Crater, which scientists would like to explore for ancient signs of life. A wheel of the rover is in the lower right.

NASA

Mars Rover: First Panorama

The Curiosity Mars rover sent back this self-portrait, a composite of several pictures looking down from the probe's rotating camera mast. Mission scientists said the landing site looked much like a frozen desert.

NASA/AP

Mars Rover: First High Resolution Image

This is the view northward from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. The mountainous rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance. The foreground shows two depressions likely carved out by blasts from the rover's descent stage thrusters.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars Rover: First Panorama

Curiosity looks toward the horizon. In the distance, looking like a mountain range, is the rim of Gale Crater. In the foreground are parts of the rover. NASA sent Curiosity on a two-year mission to study whether Mars ever could have supported microbial life.

NASA/AP Photo

Mars Rover: First Panorama

The Mars rover Curiosity dropped off its circular heat shield as it descended by parachute toward the Martian surface on Aug. 6, 2012. This picture shows the heat shield, which is 15 feet across, when it was about 50 feet from the spacecraft.

NASA/AP Photo

Mars Rover: First Panorama

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover took a picture of its own shadow, and beyond it, the sandy terrain where it landed. Parts of the rover are at the bottom of the image.

NASA/AP

Mars Lander Touches Down

This view of the landscape to the north of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was shot on the first afternoon after landing. Curiosity sits in a large crater, where the ridges in the distance may have ancient exposed bedrock.

NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

Curiosity's descent toward the Martian surface was seen from above by another NASA spacecraft, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is circling Mars.

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NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

One of the first images from NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars on the evening of Aug. 5, 2012. This picture, from a low-resolution camera on the rover's frame, shows one of its six wheels and a mountain in the distance at upper right.

NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images

NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

In a low-resolution image transmitted moments after landing, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took a picture of its own shadow. The rover landed in a field of pebbles late on a frigid Martian afternoon -- Aug. 5, 2012 back on Earth.

NASA/JPL-Caltech via Getty Images

NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

An artist's rendering shows how NASA's Curiosity rover communicated with Earth during its final moments before landing on Mars. Pink dots represent basic radio-frequency tones that were transmitted directly to Earth. The blue rings represent UHF radio data that was relayed back by spacecraft already in Martian orbit.

NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

Shannon Lampton and Charlene Pittman, educators at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., cheer as they watch NASA's coverage of the Mars Curiosity rover landing, Aug. 6, 2012.

Eric Schultz/The Huntsville Times/AP Photo

NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

Descent and landing engineer Adam Steltzner after the Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars and its first images started coming in to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Aug. 5, 2012.

Bill Ingalls/NASA

NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

Mars as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, more than 35 million miles away in Earth orbit.

NASA/AP

NASA Rover Curiosity Touches Down on Mars

In this artist's rendering, a "sky crane" lowers the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover onto the surface of Mars. The rover was too large to be cradled in airbags or use conventional landing rockets.